PvP & the state of Battlegrounds

SandandStars · February 15

xbox na, high mmr, consists of 15-30 players, tops.

literally see the exact same crew of 10 ppl any time i log in, which is maybe 3 times per week.

it can be 11 am on a Tuesday, these 10 are on.

over the past few months, all but 2 have gone full nightblade, and no longer focus on objectives. theyre in it to rack up as many kills as possible, mostly against ppl playing for objectives, or the occasional random players whove been placed too high for their experience level.

The 2 who havent changed to nb are a dk and the classic dizzy spamming stam sorc.

i wish them all well, and appreciate the good, competitive, fun matches weve had the past year or so. However, the nb gankfest is no longer entertaining. Not sour grapes. Ive been maining a tanky magden lately who doesnt die much and often wins matches with the highest score and also a respectable kd ratio. But it’s just too 1-dimensional these days. I dont blame the players for following the meta, but I do think the very narrow and unbalanced nature of the current meta is responsible for this singularly uninteresting and unfun plateau.

My point: bgs & class balance are in shambles

It just doesnt feel like the dev team is really invested in making this part of the game fun and dynamic.

Major_Toughness · February 15

Is NB a huge problem on console?

In high MMR on PC EU you see pretty much every class except Necro. Templars are then the least represented usually.

Calastir · February 15

For most of us average PUGS the BG experience is 2 seconds of play, instant death, wait 15 seconds for respawn, lose match after 15 minutes of this. Rinse and repeat until you've had enough.

Vaqual · February 15

BG players: play only meta fotm cheese and ignore objectives to farm noobs that are trapped in the bg with them until the objective is met

also BG players when the noobs simply stop joining:

Brakkish · February 15

I've said it a hundred times - just play tanks.

There's nothing more satisfying than seeing the pixilated disappointment when the try-hard-meta-followers get sweaty and give up on you, realizing you're off the menu.

xylena_lazarow · February 15

Brakkish wrote: »

I've said it a hundred times - just play tanks. There's nothing more satisfying than seeing the pixilated disappointment when the try-hard-meta-followers get sweaty and give up on you, realizing you're off the menu.

This is unironically good advice for struggling casual PvPers, agreeing even as a tryhard meta sweat myself!

taugrim · February 15

xylena_lazarow wrote: »

Brakkish wrote: »

I've said it a hundred times - just play tanks. There's nothing more satisfying than seeing the pixilated disappointment when the try-hard-meta-followers get sweaty and give up on you, realizing you're off the menu.

This is unironically good advice for struggling casual PvPers, agreeing even as a tryhard meta sweat myself!

It is good advice for players struggling to stay upright.

The real challenge is then gradually weening oneself off of heavy tank builds to the point where you can actually pressure and kill targets.

There is a huge difference between a tank that is hard to kill and can't pressure, vs a tankier build that can meaningfully pressure & kill. The former are just parse dummies. The latter are actually dangerous.

I do run a tankier build (29.5k armor front bar) with 37k Health, but I also have 2 offensive 5-pc sets to apply meaningful pressure, with Perfected Spectral Cloak backbarred to provide the damage & mitigation boost.

buzzclops · February 15

High mmr bgs was also 15-30 ppl on PlayStation. Most of us are now on PC NA where the population is still low but nowhere this bad

moo_2021 · February 15

Brakkish wrote: »

I've said it a hundred times - just play tanks.

There's nothing more satisfying than seeing the pixilated disappointment when the try-hard-meta-followers get sweaty and give up on you, realizing you're off the menu.

I keep chasing and cc them for amusement. Most of time I end up dead after long struggling, but it feels great to keep them away from my group.

Rhaegar75 · February 15

High mmr EU BGs are a mix: it’s fun until the try-hard arrive. I then tend to move on to Cyro to avoid feeding their numbers.

Some of them are really nice and friendly and you can have a good chat and even learn something.

Others however are just oppressive and meta chasers. The best one (I shall not name him) sent me a whingey message because I was using Wyrd Tree and was very tanky…..meanwhile he was full on proc with MDW, Maarselok, Vate hehehe

I had a good chuckle especially when a friend told me he was ranting during a streaming session saying what a bad player I was because I was tanky……the power of a professional player 😂😂

Major_Toughness · February 16

Rhaegar75 wrote: »

High mmr EU BGs are a mix: it’s fun until the try-hard arrive. I then tend to move on to Cyro to avoid feeding their numbers.

Some of them are really nice and friendly and you can have a good chat and even learn something.

Others however are just oppressive and meta chasers. The best one (I shall not name him) sent me a whingey message because I was using Wyrd Tree and was very tanky…..meanwhile he was full on proc with MDW, Maarselok, Vate hehehe

I had a good chuckle especially when a friend told me he was ranting during a streaming session saying what a bad player I was because I was tanky……the power of a professional player 😂😂

The problem for me is that especially now, there are less active tryhards which means the games can be really unbalanced. This isn't even class based it is just player based.

A vast majority of the time you get a feel of how the BG is going to be and how much or how little fun you're going to have, just by looking at the names on each team.

If there is 12 tryhards in one game I am all about that, let's go.

But when there are 4 and all get put on same team, other teams not going to have fun, especially if you get targeted personally.

Brakkish · February 19

Major_Toughness wrote: »

<snip>

But when there are 4 and all get put on same team, other teams not going to have fun, especially if you get targeted personally.

When you become the BG objective...; that's how you know you've made it in life